Nordic Higher Education Research Articles

‘Let’s play together for entrepreneurship!’ Engaging actors in academic capitalism within the policy discourse on entrepreneurship

Since the early 2000s, the promotion of entrepreneurship in higher education (HE) has become a central aim of educational policy in Europe. We apply a critical discourse approach to examine entrepreneurship HE policy discourse in the framework of academic capitalism. Using Finland as a case example, we investigate how academic capitalism materializes in and through the entrepreneurship discourse in a Nordic HE system and how social actors in higher education institutions (HEIs) are persuaded and engaged in entrepreneurship discourse, and within it, in academic capitalism. We analyze recent guidelines for HEIs produced by the Federation of Finnish Enterprises and university stakeholders. We show how the entrepreneurship policy discourse in HE intertwines with academic capitalism in multiple ways. The whole HEI community across disciplines is harnessed for the creation of an entrepreneurial ecosystem to enhance the innovation, creation, and renewal of businesses in order to create economic value for HEIs and businesses to secure national competitiveness. As business actors participate in generating the policy discourse, they also powerfully contribute to redefining the purpose of HE according to business logics and values. This will strengthen the marketization of a Nordic system that has so far followed social equality as its core principle.

Complexity, Resilience, and Human Resource Management: Illustration from Nordic Higher Education

Complexity, Resilience, and Human Resource Management: Illustration from Nordic Higher Education

University rankings in Nordic higher education: a scoping review

ABSTRACT In response to global competition in higher education, university rankings have been developed. These have been interpreted as indicating the regions and countries with the most prestigious and competitive higher education institutions. The rankings are viewed as important in many countries, but their role is ambiguous and contested in the Nordic region. This study aimed to analyse how rankings were addressed in research literature in the Nordic countries between 2003 and 2022. Both peer-reviewed studies and ‘grey’ (unpublished) literature were analysed via a scoping review methodology, encompassing 86 studies in total. The review identified five research themes pertaining to university rankings, touching on universities’ structural and governance reforms, educational affairs, funding and finances, research policies, and internationalization. The study also investigated the changes over time in the themes addressed in rankings-related discourse in the Nordic countries. Most of the studies were conceptual in nature and were conducted via qualitative methods.

Special Issue Introduction: What Has Changed and What Remains? Institutional Shifts in Nordic Higher Education in the 2000s

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‘Nordic added value’: a floating signifier and a mechanism for Nordic higher education regionalism

ABSTRACT This paper contributes to the theoretical debate over a global upsurge in higher education (HE) regionalisms which pursue different region-building processes and create policy spaces beyond national boundaries. Focusing on the Nordic countries, the paper studies parallel processes of intra-Nordic and European HE and research cooperation. Although individual Nordic countries opt for different kinds of relationships with the European Union (EU), they have participated in the Europeanisation process of HE and research while intensifying their Nordic regional identity. Drawing on spatial logics in European integration and HE regionalism theories, the concept of ‘Nordic added value’ (NAV) and three Nordic flagship programmes, this paper addresses two questions: What are the links and outcomes of parallel regionalising processes of the EU-Nordic and intra-Nordic cooperation in HE and research? How has ‘Nordic added value’ been utilised to strengthen Nordic HE regionalism? The paper argues that spatial logics provide new and holistic understandings of rationales for region-building processes, whereas NAV, being a floating signifier, generates regionalising ideas and functions as a distinctive mechanism of Nordic HE regionalism. Both spatial logics and NAV render opportunities for Nordic regional imaginaries, identity-building and Nordic-EU mutual policy learning.

Hybridity in Nordic Higher Education

ABSTRACT This article builds on the concept of nested hybridity. It emphasizes professional practices and organizational design in studying hybridity of steering and management of professional public service organization. The article compares public sector dynamics in higher education in Finland, Norway, and Sweden. The data consists of surveys and interviews on performance management in Nordic universities. Previous studies on hybridity of professional work and public organizations define hybridity as a multidimensional concept that occurs at different levels of social practices. While the multifaceted nature of hybridity is clear, demarcating between levels of hybridity and theoretical approaches remains complex. Based on our empirical findings, no clear top-down or bottom-up causality chains are identified. We question whether hybridity is nested as the levels of hybridity are intervened and connected, but not all levels have implications for all other levels.

What Has Changed and What Remains? Institutional Shifts in Nordic Higher Education in the 2000s

What Has Changed and What Remains? Institutional Shifts in Nordic Higher Education in the 2000s

Quality Assurance in Nordic Higher Education: Relevance and Quality for the Welfare State?

Quality Assurance in Nordic Higher Education: Relevance and Quality for the Welfare State?

Technical Efficiency and Productivity of Higher Education Institutions in the Nordic Countries

ABSTRACT This study investigates the technical efficiency and productivity of Nordic higher education institutions (HEIs). One problem in previous research is the adjustment of efficiency scores for input quality. A problem avoided by using upper-secondary schooling grades. A second problem relates to heterogeneity concerning subjects and institutions among HEIs. Using a national resource allocation system, student achievements (ECTS-credits) are weighted according to subject-mix at the HEI level. For research production, a bibliometric publication measure is used, and highly cited publications are included to consider quality. A third problem when using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) is the lack of statistical inference. Therefore, bootstrapping is used to resolve this problem. The results, using data from 68 Nordic HEIs between 2011 and 2016, indicate an average inefficiency of 10.1% and a yearly productivity increase of around 0.4%. A second-stage correlation analysis shows that the inefficiency scores are positively correlated with staff turnover.

Engineering learning outcomes:Translations of a policy instrument in a disciplinary context in Nordic higher education

ABSTRACT Learning outcomes have become a central feature in European higher education and are intended to create a plethora of change concerning teaching, relevance, quality and transparency. However, there have been few studies on how learning outcomes have been introduced within disciplines. This article therefore studies the introduction of learning outcomes in Norwegian higher education, in a comparative case study of two engineering programmes. Engineering is often showcased as an example of highly relevant education and has traditions for co-operation with local businesses. Standards are also a common feature in the education and professional work, which suggests that learning outcomes might work well in this context. The article uses translation as theoretical perspective, emphasizing path-dependent change, and draws on the concepts of layering and drift. Empirically, the article is based on qualitative interviews and document material. The findings show learning outcomes as a circulating master idea which was introduced before it became a formal requirement. Learning outcomes were layered onto revisions of the education and adapted to the disciplinary traditions. While the introduction led to structural changes, the cases also show several challenges for the use of learning outcomes for teaching and information purposes.

Students’ perspectives on English medium instruction: A survey-based study at a Norwegian university

English medium instruction (EMI) in Nordic higher education. This study explores students’ attitudes towards EMI in the Norwegian study context. A total of 346 students within the fields of law, philosophy, and natural science responded to a questionnaire and evaluated statements concerning the language use in the educational context. Indexes measuring confidence in English skills and attitudes towards EMI were constructed and analysed using multiple regression. Natural science students and students with high confidence had significantly more positive attitudes towards EMI than students who were less confident in their English skills. Furthermore, confidence correlated positively with students’ plans to study abroad, which could suggest that confidence in English is a predominant factor influencing students’ choices of whether or not to go abroad as part of their education.

A Critical Comparison of English-mediated Instruction in Korean and Nordic Higher Education

English has become an important language of science and scholarship due to the globalization and internationalization of higher education. As a result, there has been a rapid increase in English-mediated instruction (EMI) courses across English as a foreign language (EFL) countries. In an expansion of EMI courses, different reactions have arisen among professors between Korean and Nordic higher education contexts. Utilizing both literature search on EMI as well as insights from the researcher’s involvement in EMI projects, this article presents a comparative analysis of EMI between Korean and Nordic universities with the hope that it will contribute to more effective implementation of EMI within EFL universities such as the ones in Korea. The analysis demonstrates that although there are similar concerns about the expansion and implementation of EMI, the two contexts have fundamental differences, including the motivation for the introduction of EMI, linguistic environments, and philosophy of teaching and learning. These factors are intertwined and influence the implementation of EMI in each context. Therefore, in order to implement EMI more successfully in Korean universities, understanding the differences underlying the two contexts is required.

Access and stratification in Nordic higher education. A review of cross-cutting research themes and issues*

ABSTRACTThe purpose of this review is to investigate cross-cutting research themes and issues related to access and stratification in Nordic higher education (H.E.) (Denmark, Iceland, Finland, Norway and Sweden). We synthesise how recent changes in H.E. policy, practise, and appropriations have influenced educational opportunities along social class, gender and age. In this review we highlight results and conclusions shared by various recent Nordic studies. The emphasis is on the common trends and patterns related to social stratification in access.

Nordic language policies for higher education and their multi-layered motivations

Language policies have been drafted in Nordic higher education with the obvious, but unproblematised and unchallenged motivation caused by internationalisation. In this article, we analyse the various motivations for drafting language policies in Nordic higher education and the ideological implications of those motivations. We do this by approaching the question from multiple (macro, meso and micro) viewpoints, in order to make visible some of the undercurrents in higher education language policy. We are particularly interested in the explicit motivations for language policy change, and the explicit and implicit actors and action represented in our data. We will first discuss the background for internationalisation in Nordic higher education and then move on to our analysis of policy documents, survey data on the motivations for language policy drafting in Nordic higher education institutions. Our results indicate that internationalisation turns into a national question in the motivations. It also appears that the institutions are reactive (rather than active) in responding to perceived needs to draft a language policy.

Transnationalisation and Nordic higher education - Tensions and possibilities in educational policy

Transnationalisation and Nordic higher education - Tensions and possibilities in educational policy

The Current State and Developments in Higher Education in Gerontology in the Nordic Countries

The growing size of the older population challenges not only researchers but also higher education in gerontology. On the basis of an online survey the authors describe the situation of Nordic higher education in gerontology in 2008 and 2009 and also give some good examples of Nordic- and European-level collaboration. The survey results showed that gerontological education was given in every Nordic country, in 31 universities and 60 other higher education institutions. Although separate aging-related courses and modules were relatively numerous, programs for majors were relatively few. Networking in the Nordic region offers a good example on how to further develop higher education in gerontology. Emphasis should be put on strengthening networking on the European and trans-Atlantic levels.

Redefining External Stakeholders in Nordic Higher Education

Present higher education reforms in the Nordic countries diminish the role and influence of the state on the governance of higher education institutions. While still providing a framework for the management of higher education, in general, the state supervises rather than controls higher education institutions (HEIs). The rhetoric of change stipulates HEIs to respond to environmental needs, and the external stakeholders often assume greater prominence relative to the internal ones. This development is explained by a paradigmatic shift in the concept of good governance. Furthermore, the Stakeholder Society perspective is used to investigate the changing position and meaning of stakeholders in Nordic higher education.